People who eat a lot of fibre every day may be less likely to die prematurely from a range of illnesses — including heart disease, cancer and infection, according to a United States study.
The benefits of fibre in weight loss, lowering cholesterol and protecting against heart disease have been well established by previous studies, but researchers said the finding that it might also help prevent other common killers was new.
“The results from this study suggest that fibre may have broader health benefits than what has been found before,” said Frank Hu, who studies nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and wrote an editorial accompanying the study, which appeared in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
“The bottom line is that fibre should be a staple in our diet, and we should strive to eat as much fibre as possible,” Hu told Reuters Health, though he added that some of the benefits found in the current study need to be examined further.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) recommends that adult women should eat about 25g of fibre each day and men about 38g. A half cup of boiled lentils contains about 8g of fibre, while a half cup of raw almonds has nearly 9g.
Fibre’s protective effect
For the study, 400 000 members of the American Association of Retired People (AARP) were tracked by Yikyung Park of the National Cancer Institute and her colleagues.
In 1995 and 1996, when they were between 51 and 71 years old, the participants filled out a survey about eating habits, with additional information gathered about their physical activity levels, weight and smoking status.
Using national databases of death and causes of death, the team was able to determine which of the original study participants died, and from what causes, over an average follow-up period of nine years.
Comparing people in the lowest quartile — men who ate 13g and women who ate 11g a day — with those in the highest, where men consumed an average of 29g and women 26g — the researchers found that people who ate the most fibre were 22% less likely to have died of any cause during the study than people who ate the least.
That pattern remained when the results were broken down by cause of death.
“Fibre intake also lowered the risk of death from cardiovascular, infectious and respiratory diseases by 24% to 56% in men and by 34% to 59% in women,” the authors wrote.
For men only, eating more fibre was also linked to a lower risk of cancer mortality.
Overall, fibre had a greater protective effect when it came from grains rather than fruits, vegetables or beans, perhaps because whole grains contain vitamins and minerals that have been shown to prevent disease, Hu said.
But the study did not prove that fibre directly prevents premature death, the researchers said, noting that they had to trust that participants had accurately described their diets and that further study is needed.
Also, while the researchers factored in things such as exercise and body weight, “people who eat high-fibre [food] in general tend to have a healthier lifestyle”, Park said. — Reuters